PoA Chapter Five
Feb. 26th, 2010 11:57 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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deathtocapslockHarry’s woken the next morning by Tom and a cup of tea. Harry really does get to live the life of a Victorian gentleman, doesn’t he? What innkeeper in the Muggle world wakes customers with a cup of tea?
Percy’s still with Penelope here. Are we supposed to assume they got married and had boring babies in the epilogue?
Mrs. Weasley is telling Hermione and Ginny about a love potion she made when she was younger and they’re all very giggly. Because there’s never anything for girls to talk about with each other ever besides guys.
And by “talking about guys” I of course mean plotting and scheming for how to catch them, because that’s how true love works. Girls just have to wait around for a chance to conk a clueless male of the species on the head and drag him off to her cave by his hair. Where he’ll be in charge after that.
This year we’ll all be chauffeured to school by a guy in green velvet. Yup, you won’t find service like this in the Muggle world.
To Ron’s disgust, Percy gets into the car with the Trio. Wow, the Percy hate in this chapter is strong. As far as I can tell the only reason for it is to set up Percy being a terrible bad guy for two books, but all he’s done so far is be stiff. Oh, and accuse Ron of intentionally sabotaging his stuff. Can’t imagine where he’d get the idea that his brothers would ever sabotage his stuff, can you?
The ride is uneventful, but Harry makes sure to notice that the old-fashioned Ministry cars are better than Uncle Vernon’s company car. Muggles suck so bad.
The Wizard car is like the Firebolt to Vernon’s Nimbus 2001.
The chauffeurs touch their hats in salute to Mr. Weasley before leaving. Somebody could do a really interesting paper on the Weasleys, class and money.
Ginny catches Harry’s eye and they both laugh at Percy’s showing off for his girlfriend. It seems like Ginny’s just showing her personality to be basically good natured and finding amusement in her funny family. Looking back perhaps this is a sign of Ginny’s awesome true personality that entirely consists of mocking others. SOULMATES!
Let’s take a moment to reflect on our two central canon couples. One demonstrates true love by the way they act like they can’t stand each other, the other bonds over how superior they are to everyone else. That’s how we know which ones are the sidekicks. The one couple insults each other; the other insults everyone else.
Mrs. Weasley kisses everyone and gives Harry and extra long hug. Which makes Harry embarrassed but pleased. I’m sure I found that sweet for Harry the first time I read this.
Harry says he’s not scared of Sirius since he couldn’t be any worse than Voldemort. Actually Harry, almost anyone would be worse than Voldemort as Voldemort’s an idiot.
Heh. Wouldn’t it be great to see Harry wind up in the Muggle world in trouble? Like, facing some low-level thug from The Sopranos or The Wire or the bad guy from any episode of White Collar or Leverage or even Law & Order. He’d be all, “Well, I know I can handle myself. They can’t be worse than Voldemort.” And then he’d be robbed, framed for murder or dead.
Before putting Harry on the train Arthur is sure to plant the idea in his head that maybe he ought to be looking for Sirius. He is a Gryffindor, after all.
That Arthur knows Harry has a reason to want Sirius dead just makes me wonder once again why that story wouldn’t be all over the papers.
It’s another example of how somehow a society that’s exceptionally small and intimate manages to be exceptionally unacquainted.
Ginny again shows a personality in telling Ron, “Oh, that’s nice!” at being told to go away. The personality I liked, I mean. Not the one from later books.
Neither Harry nor Hermione are apologetic about Ron’s very rude dismissal of his sister. Maybe if you all had treated the first Ginny nicer we wouldn’t have been subjected to the improved version!
The kids find Lupin sleeping in the compartment, looking worn and grey. Let’s not wake him up right away. Let us enjoy him while he’s still a cool character!
Okay, so why does the guy have a battered case that has his name on it, calling himself a professor, exactly? It seems obvious JKR’s setting him up to be the excellent teacher stereotype, only it doesn’t actually seem like Lupin’s a teacher except for this year.
Azkaban is also a much cooler place in this chapter than it ever is again.
Hermione reminds us the Muggles are out looking for Black too. They’d probably catch him a lot more quickly than Wizards with the right information.
Ron apologizes for his cheap Sneakoscope, which went wild as he was tying it to Errol’s leg. Because Scabbers was there. Get it? Only they chalk it up to Ron using Errol when he wasn’t supposed to. So basically the Sneakoscope is another one of those objects that seems useful but is actually completely useless, like the Weasley’s clock.
Hogsmeade is the only entirely non-Muggle settlement in Britain. Because Muggles are awesome!
And to prove my point, the best thing in Hogsmeade is a candy shop. Look, I love candy as much as the next person, but there’s plenty of them all over the Muggle world. Maybe they don’t carry candy that physically injures you, but I consider that a plus.
Also, Ron, you’re 13.
The Shrieking Shack is the most “severely” haunted building in Britain. I like that it’s not really that it’s the best haunting, it’s just the most severe since yelling comes from it.
Harry and Draco have been enemies since they met on the train to Hogwarts. Um, they met before that. But I guess Draco didn’t know they were enemies until the train.
Crabbe and Goyle seem to exist to do Draco’s bidding. Unlike, say, Hermione and Ron who exist to do Harry’s thinking and laundry and make Harry look good by comparison, respectively. They don’t have to do Harry’s bidding, they just get yelled at and shamed if they don’t.
Not quite sure what the point of Draco’s entrance was there, except to introduce him to the story, I guess. The scene just made everyone look a bit silly, really.
The train stops to let on Dementors, and the rest of the cast conveniently stumbles into the car. Now we’ve re-met everyone, can we get on with the story, please?
Harry faints at the sight of the Dementor, which he’ll pretend is embarrassing but really just shows he’s suffered more than anyone because his parents died heroically protecting him. Even if he has no way of remembering that whatsoever. Harry’s like Batman, in a way.
Ginny was shaking like mad because she, too, has met Voldemort. SOULMATES!
They have no chance to speak to Hagrid. So we dodge that bullet, at least.
McGonagall calls Hermione and Harry as soon as they get in. Harry’s not happy, as McGonagall always makes him feel like he’s done something wrong. Unless he’s just thrown a torture curse, in which case she makes him feel gallant!
Apparently Lupin’s carrying around chocolate for Dementors is early proof of what a great teacher he is.
Hermione leaves her meeting with McGonagall looking quite happy. Like, “given power over time itself” happy.
Luckily the meeting means they miss the Sorting. I sort of love the way JKR sets up all these things and then has to spend the rest of the series trying to find ways around having to write them again and again.
Okay, I spoke too soon about re-meeting everyone. One more person to meet. Dumbledore. Are we all here? Can we get on with it now?
Dumbledore is often described as the greatest wizard of the age, but that’s not why Harry respects him. He respects him because you can’t help but trust him. Yes, you just can’t help but trust him even when he’s dead and even though his plans are completely stupid and nonsensical and by all rights should have gotten you all killed.
Seriously, Harry, that’s not a good reason to respect someone. That just means they’re good at manipulating people.
The candlelight shimmers on Dumbledore’s beard. Ew. That makes it sound like his beard’s greasy or sticky or something. Beards should not shimmer ever.
Damn. One more person. Snape. Snape’s here too, looking less shabby than Lupin. Now we’re all here.
Next to him we meet our new teacher, Hagrid. And he’s already crying and wiping his eyes on the table. I hate this guy.
The Trio knows how much being made a teacher would mean to Hagrid, what with him not really doing anything to qualify for such a job besides being a friend of Dumbledore’s and never indicating any talent or desire for the job. Yup, this appointment is a real triumph for…trusting Dumbledore.
Harry feels he’s home at last, in the dorm. And it only took him 60 pages to get there. Compared to the books that are to follow, that’s pretty speedy.
I have to say after these chapters, nobody in this book seems 13.
Things happening twice:
Harry and Draco becoming enemies on the train to Hogwarts—just like James and Snape.
First use of a Patronus so we see it before Harry uses it. Though we don’t actually ever see what Lupin’s Patronus is.
I believe one of the first mentions of love potions.
Grrr! Percy is already so awful he's clearly evil! Clearly! Evil!
Harry and Ginny bonding over other peoples’ flaws: SOULMATES!
Remember how Vernon got a company car earlier? Now Arthur’s got a better one!
Again the Sneakoscope goes off, making for the third time we’ve heard of it.
It’s a gun. No it isn’t! It’s Chekov! No it isn’t!
Percy totally seems like a bad guy, doesn’t he? Look at how all the good people dislike him.
Status: Fired, I guess. Percy’s got to be some sort of lesson in not being completely loyal to Harry or something. Or maybe he was just supposed to be some genuine family drama, even if he really wasn’t.
What’s that thing that came out of Lupin’s wand?
Status: Fired. That’d be the main spell we’ll be learning in this book.
Designated Hero
Dumbledore’s set up as this awesome headmaster here, but he’s really already just showing favoritism.
Misdirected Answering
Funny how when Harry tells his friends that Arthur told him not to go looking for Black none of them, including Thinking-Brain-Dog Hermione, wondered what Black obviously has or had done to make Harry go looking for him.
Don’t worry, if Lupin wakes up and he’s hungry he can go to the front of the train to get food from the trolley lady. Phew! Glad that’s cleared up, it was really distracting.
Nut o’ Fun
What’s with that briefcase, Lupin? It’s not like you’ve been teaching long enough to have a battered case. In fact, why do you have any case at all?
Jabootu Score: 4
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no subject
Date: 2010-02-27 06:39 pm (UTC)In the end, Draco's not a hero, he certainly doesn't have any scenes where he's duelling Bellatrix in the name of the good side. But I think it's pretty obvious that Draco isn't supposed to be Peter-lite here. The scene in the Manor gives him a chance for prestige without having to kill the Trio himself and he doesn't want the prestige that way (the way his father is shown to want it). He could get Ron and Herimone knocked off no problem in Malfoy Manor, but now that death is for real he knows he doesn't want either of them dead. As oryx said, he really has learned his lesson--and lost his taste for cruelty and Voldemort's aims.
Ginny's cruelty, if one considers it cruelty, is always considered righteous and it's never tied to blood prejudice. It seems like something we're supposed to admire and I'd assume it's the same as always at the end.
Funny thing about Draco is that he is one of the only characters in canon who is almost distinguished by his ability to learn, even though it only gets him from bully parroting Nazi-ish rhetoric to probably a non-offensive guy (who is at least a better father than his father was). I don't think that reading was intentional in the series; it's almost like a by-product of Draco's cowardice that he's unable to blithely skip along ignoring the consequences of his own actions. Just as I don't think his saving of Goyle is supposed to be a sign of bravery given the way it's written. (Though I do think it's supposed to be a contrast to Crabbe.)
no subject
Date: 2010-02-28 12:55 am (UTC)I think that's a good summary. Hmm. Maybe I'd put it as 'selfishly violent'. I see Ginny as quite casual with her violence when it satisfies her impetuous and selfish desires for personal satisfaction.
But when it comes to the larger picture - where do you stand on the Muggleborn, the issues of society - she's one of the good guys. Even if it's by default, simply because she's a Weasley, because her family and friends are. Because her hero!Harry is.
As oryx said, he really has learned his lesson--and lost his taste for cruelty and Voldemort's aims.
Draco's 'redemption' in the series was something that took a while for me to recognise. I'm still not comfortable with it. I mean, the kid should be prosecuted for the crimes that he DID commit, like letting in those Death Eater terrorists in sixth year. Or aiding and abetting Voldemort - Draco *was* trying to get the diadem for his master, you know, even if he was endeavouring to do so without killing the Trio. Nah, thinking about that last ... I'm still undecided.
(And I'm outraged at Lucius's getting off in the interview canon.)
Ginny's cruelty, if one considers it cruelty, is always considered righteous and it's never tied to blood prejudice. It seems like something we're supposed to admire and I'd assume it's the same as always at the end.
It's a horrible and twisted set of values that Rowling gave us with Ginny but yes, it seems clear that she's the golden girl and we should regard the casual brutality and bullying behaviour as just her being 'feisty' (certainly that's how her fans seem to filter it). With the people receiving her blows and hexes being automatically deemed as being at fault and 'wrong'. They deserved it!
I guess Ginny ended up as an extension of Harry; not only as his love interest, but also in terms of being axiomatically 'good', one of the independent nodes of morality from which all other ethical valuations could be measured?
Funny thing about Draco is that he is one of the only characters in canon who is almost distinguished by his ability to learn, even though it only gets him from bully parroting Nazi-ish rhetoric to probably a non-offensive guy
He should still be locked up!!! Sent to Juvenile court!! Something!!!
no subject
Date: 2010-02-28 01:08 am (UTC)But what made him think his master would want the diadem found? He may have had a good reason to think his master didn't want Harry to find it, but since he never heard from his master or any of his henchmen about the diadem or anything like it then perhaps what his master wants is to keep the diadem away - from Harry and anyone else?
He should still be locked up!!! Sent to Juvenile court!! Something!!!
Yes, I agree, something. And Neville should testify for mitigation of his sentence. (OTOH Harry should do some time for that gallant Cruciatus and a few other things.)
no subject
Date: 2010-02-28 01:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-28 01:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-28 02:04 am (UTC)"No!" shouted Malfoy, staying Crabbe's arm as the latter made to repeat his spell. "If you wreck the room you might bury this diadem thing!"
"What’s that matter?" said Crabbe, tugging himself free. "It’s Potter the Dark Lord wants, who cares about a die-dum?"
"Potter came in here to get it," said Malfoy with ill-disguised impatience at the slow-wittedness of his colleagues. "so that must mean –"
He works out on the spot that Riddle would prize the diadem ... and that recovering it might improve his prestige with the Dark Lord, yes?
no subject
Date: 2010-02-28 02:50 am (UTC)It makes a good distraction and delaying tactic anyway.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-28 05:41 pm (UTC)Or perhaps that what Voldemort wants is to keep the diadem out of reach - but preventing Crabbe from burying it gives Harry a chance to find it? He can't say that within Crabbe and Goyle's hearing.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-28 01:22 am (UTC)But I didn't feel like he'd gotten away with anything, even if he was trying to get the diadem. He was brought up to think being a DE was the best thing you could be and by the time he realized he didn't agree with it he was being personally coerced into things by Voldemort. Even in trying to get the diadem, he didn't know what it was, only that it might be good for his family. I think Voldemort punished him more effectively than prison would. (Especially given how often Harry demonstrates that official punishment makes him feel more justified!)
He was basically doing the same thing as Luna's dad--only in Draco's case he had even less reason to care about the good side rather than his family because he had no ties to the good side at all and had more reason to think they had to protect themselves. His motivation in the end was mostly trying to keep his family and himself alive, but he wouldn't cross the lines Peter would to do it.
Letting the DEs into Hogwarts was no little thing, but given where the whole storyline was about I didn't feel like it was unresolved unless he was put in jail for it. It was by doing that we and he would actually see where he stood. He didn't want to be on the bad side anymore but the good side didn't want him (I'm not blaming them for his situation, of course). I didn't feel like he had any DE left in him in the end, so I didn't mind him being 18 and out of jail and probably teaching his kid better values.
I don't have a defense for why he shouldn't be punished for letting in the DEs or anything. (Course, I also think the twins should be punished for nearly killing a fellow student.) There's no working justice system here. Lucius doesn't get in trouble for his CoS plot and he didn't even have the excuse of being brainwashed throughout his life--nor did he ultimately decide that what he was trying to do was wrong!
no subject
Date: 2010-02-28 05:48 pm (UTC)Well, there wasn't any evidence that could have stuck. Or was there? Surely someone's Pensieved memory of the events at Flourish and Blotts would have shown Lucius putting the diary in Ginny's book? Or was this again Dumbledore trying to keep the information that Voldemort=Riddle confined?
no subject
Date: 2010-02-28 06:22 pm (UTC)For instance, in this case nobody could probably prove that Ginny got the diary from Lucius (and presumably somebody would ask why Ginny took the diary back after getting rid of it), but Dobby should be able to testify to the whole plot. I can't even remember why Hagrid goes to prison in CoS, exactly now, but presumably it's not with any more evidence than they'd have against Lucius?
warning for tl;dr
Date: 2010-02-28 10:46 am (UTC)Even the most basic laws (against Unforgiveables or murder, for example) are broken, by everyone.
There's only one jail where you pretty much get a death penalty or else go insane (lol, which like the laws within the books, sort of alters whenever it needs to.)
And all the governments we've seen in the books are corrupt, either sending innocent people off or letting guilty people go.
Even the schools policies vary wildly - you can get detention for sneaking around at night, but also for the Sectumsempra (which in the real world wouldn't even be a school matter, but a criminal one.) Or you can get away with anything, if a teacher likes you.
We get certain spells, actions or insults that the author tells you are 'dark' and deserving of punishment in some way; but there's no consistent punishment for these, within the story (ie. the Slytherins get away with tons of stuff) or outside of it (ie. JKR doesn't recognise how having your hero obsess over a dark spellbook all year and then moralise about Malfoy's "fascination with the Dark Arts" might come across; or how Ginny or the Twins is just as obnoxious a bully.)
So for Malfoy to face some kind of formal punishment would
a) require some kind of formal punishment system in the WW that for the first time is fairly applied - and who on earth would run that? Even the Order has it's share of corruption (Arthur, Dumbledore getting people like Mundungus Fletcher off because they help him). Kingsley's hands aren't exactly clean, but he's what we get apparently; and
b) require everyone else to be subject to same laws.
So where Malfoy must face consequences, so must Harry (Unforgiveables), the Twins (what they did to Montague), the adults (is there a battle ground justice system? Should Molly go to jail? Is her soul torn? Is there a manslaughter or a self-defence mitigation? Would inaction - Lucius and Narcissa going out of their way not to fight - count? Or would it be negated because of the self-interest?) TBH, this is basic ethics discussion, but it's way beyond what JKR's willing to go into, imho. She wants 'Our side does what they want, their side gets away with it to show how slimy they are/gets righteously punished, hahaha!'
And obviously, while no-one wants a system of 'Good cancels out bad', there is the barest hint of a natural justice system on the author's part - no-one would want to see Harry punished for anything when he just died to save the world.
Presumably everyone fighting for his side would be covered under this - they've all risked their lives fighting for a cause that's preferable to the other side (about as kind as I can put it!), they're essentially soldiers; are they really going to face justice for stuff they did at school prior to that?
But that perspective is exactly one that works when you're the author deciding fates, and which falls apart when you're trying to present a system of justice.
Which imho, is why even JKR, who doesn't seem able to decide whether she wants to punish using "natural" justice - so-and-so has suffered enough/didn't marry/kept their scars (she does love those literal scars! Not only Marietta, Charlie and Harry, but I thought it was interesting in the epilogue - never a sentence I thought I'd type, btw! - that Malfoy's specifically wearing clothes up to the neck. Dunno if it meant because of the Sectumsempra or because of the fire in DH, but it seems an odd reference if it's not referring to hiding some kind of wound.) or whether she wants to have a system (Harry and Hermione ending up in law enforcement - eek! - or her noting that Umbridge, of all people, would have gone to prison.) got a bit squeamish about sending the Malfoys' to prison. The bad stuff they've done in the past is still bad, but if we're ignoring anything up until DH (like we have to for Fred and George, say), then what they've done is pretty light - this is a book, after all, where the epitome of goodness confesses to having planned a kid's death for the last seventeen years.
Re: warning for tl;dr
Date: 2010-02-28 06:09 pm (UTC)As do Gryffindors. In the early books it is interesting to compare. For instance in the same Potions lesson where Harry is frustrated that the Slytherin trio gets away with flicking ingredients into his cauldron he gets away with tossing a firecracker into Goyle's cauldron and actually injuring students.
I agree, the books are an illustration of a system where justice is meaningless, partially because it isn't applied uniformly across the board and partially because there isn't a reasonable graduation of levels of punishment that would have allowed fitting punishment to crime. (On top of the problems of most western justice systems that overemphasize revenge by the system over rehabilitation, but that's a separate issue.) The strange thing is that Rowling invents magical ways to investigate crimes that Muggle investigators and lawyers would love to have at their disposal, and then they are constantly not applied where one would expect. Pensieves, anyone?